Wednesday, July 6, 2016

July 8th is National Cow Appreciation Day...Bravo to Our Bovines!

No
one knows how Cow Appreciation Day got started.
It joins a long list of unofficial holidays: National Pretzel Day, Name Your Car Day and
Bald & Free Day to name just a few. Let's say thank you to the animal who gives us
so much. As Bart Simpson says,
"COW-abunga!"

Did you know that cows are excellent
recyclers? A Cornell study reported that
cows are often fed byproducts of industrial processes. The alternative –
incineration of the byproducts – directly contributes to environmental
degradation, so cows actually help reduce the impact of the human food supply
and make that food supply affordable, he reports.

Bet you didn’t know that, did you?

Here are a
few little-known facts about these gentle farm creatures:

1. Dairy cows live about 25
years

2. Cows have almost panoramic,
360-degree vision, allowing them to watch for predators or humans from all
angles. Translation: It’s nearly impossible to sneak up on them, would-be cow
tippers.

3. Bovines can’t see the color red.
Those crimson flags that matadors wave in the rodeo ring only catch a bull’s
attention because of their fluttering.

4. Cows have an acute sense of
smell and can detect odors up to six miles away, which is also helpful in
detecting imminent danger.

5. These mammals have no upper
front teeth. Instead, they press their sharp bottom teeth against the top hard
palate of their mouth to cut efficiently through blades of grass.

6. Cows move their jaws about
40,000 times a day, chewing cud or grass about 40 times a minute.

7. Thanks to a high metabolism, the
average dairy cow consumes more than 100 pounds of food per day and drinks up
to 40 gallons of water per day.

8. These extremely social creatures
don’t like to be alone. So if a cow isolates herself, she's either not feeling
well or she's about to give birth.

9. Cows spend the vast majority of
their time lying down — about 10 to 12 hours each day.

10. Cows and humans share a very
important trait — gestation for both is 9 months

We all know that cows supply each
of us with nutrition in a variety of ways.
Dairy products like milk, yogurt, cheese and ice cream. Meat products from roasts to steaks to burgers. Cows have been feeding us for centuries;
isn't it time to show our thanks by celebrating National Cow Appreciation Day
on July 8th?

Cow-Filled Ways to Celebrate

Scrabble Contest--How many words
can you think of that contain the word "cow"?

Art Show--Cow drawings. Categories may include Most Life-like,
Funniest...you decide!

And, of course,

Cow Costumes

The prize? A loving cup full of ice cream!!!

So, get moo-ving...it's National Cow Appreciation Day!!

***

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